Lions SightFirst Madagascar: A SightFirst Model for Success
by Sonia L. Pelletreau
Long, white beaches line the fish-rich southwestern coast of Madagascar; further inland, villages lie among forests with canopies of towering baobab trees. In remote Ambohifotsy, a rural village 60 kilometers inland from the coast, Tafitasoa was born with bilateral congenital cataract, rendering him completely blind. His parents and the community of Ambohifotsy, two days’ journey from the capital city of Antananarivo and without any access to eye care, believed that he would remain blind his whole life. Thanks to SightFirst and the Lions of Madagascar, however, Tafitasoa was able to receive the double cataract surgery necessary to restore his vision, and his future.